Helicopter



W. VETTEL HELICOPTER F'i1 ed June 7, 1922 2 Sheets-'Sheet 1 Fig, j',

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' Patented Sept. 25, 1923.

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PATNT 'osi-uca ox, sauro i nmcor'raa Application led June 7, 1922. Serial Ho; 588.467.

To all whom. t may concern.'

Be it known that I, WILLIS Vmjrnn, a citizen of the United States, residing `at Hornbrook, in the county of Siskiyou and State of California, have invented new and useful Improvements in Helicopters, of.

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inother object is to provide means wh reby vertical movement is caused Ithlgigh t e .action of standard wing surfaces uch as are common] employed 1n aeroplanes.A

A'further obJect is to provide mechanism ordriving these wings, which" mechanism is simple in construction and therefore cheap to manufacture.

Other objects and advantages willbe apparent during the course of the following description.

In the accompanying drawin forming v a part of this specification, an in which like numerals are employed to designate like parts throughout the same,

Figure l is a side elevation of my improved machine, p

Figure 2 is a cross-section taken on the line 2-2 of Figure 3,

Figure 3 is a `vertical detail view of the wing controlling mechanism,

Figure 4 is-a fragmentary detail view showing the manner of mounting the wing su porting mechanism to the fuselage,

igure 5 is a top plan view of my aeroplane, and I Figure 6 is a dia ammatic viewA showing the manner in w 'ch my wing surfaces would be tilted.

In providing for the vertical movement for a iiyingmachine, 'it is essential that means be rovided for ,raising the flying machine, w ich means must have a certain factor of safety so that should the driving mechanism stop before horizontal movement is commenced, the descent will not be too rapid. Heretofore, as far as applicant is aware, dying machines of this c aracter have relied uponoppositely revolving propellers having but a small surface. I there fone propose to o bviate this diiculty by y 16 and 17, which providin wings havin the usual supporting sur aces of consi erable area, which wings maybe rotated about a central point andltipped at an angle for the purpose of getting a grip upon the air.

In th for the urpose of illustration 1s shown a preferre embodiment of my invention, the numeral 7 designates the fuselage of mv machine which as the usual steering rude accompanying drawings whereinl ders 8 and 9. These rudders are controlled in the usual manner. is provided as well as a cock pit 12 within which the aviator sits. A gyroscope 13 is mounted within the fuselage and serves to A .landing gear 11 prevent rotation of the fuselage about aunderstood that the central shaft 14. It is description thus far relates to the] ordin aeroplane construction and to which I attach my invention.

The shaft 14 is provided with trunnions l trunnions'are secured in bearings mounted upon the fuselage 7, as best shown in Figure 4. The shaft 14 extends upwardly from the 17 and has mounted thereon a tubular at its upper extremity, which block is best s own in Figure f5. Extending outwardly therefrom are shafts 21, 22, 23 and 24, the extremities of'whichv are guyed as by guy wires 26, 27 and 28. T ese guy wires perform the usual function of keeping the shafts in their proper alignment. 7 Mounted upon the shafts as by brackets 2%' and 31 are wing surfaces 32 which win s correspond `to those usually emplo ed in aeroplanes. It will be noted that t e brackets 31 secured to each wing are provided with levers 33 formed integra therewith. These levers in turn each secured to a link 34 which extend downwardl t and are in turn connected to lar 36 mounted so 'as to have vertical move- -ment upon the tubular shaft 18. This shaft trunmons 16 and' shaftV 18. This tubular shaft carries a block 19 the' contour of a sliding co to a ring 41. This m Lacasse are mounted on the shafts 22 and 24 have formed therewith a tubular portion 43 which tubular portions carry at their outer extremties, a motor housing 44 within which a suitable motor is mounted. flhis motor in turn is connected to a propeller 46. lt is obvious that these motors may be driven in an well known manner.

n order to move the shaft 14 upon its trunnions 16 and 17, I rovide a cable 47 secured to the lower en of the shaft as is best shown in Figure 1. This cable is in turn connected to a lever 48 and serves as a lmeans for moving the lower extremity of vthe sha 14 forwardly and rearwardly of the fuselage.

The operation of my device is as follows i Assuming that the parts are in the position shown in Figure 1, and it is desired to rise vertically from vthe ground, a lever 48 will be moved until the shaft 14 is vertical, it of course bein understood that the skid at this time would be upon the ground. The lever 42 is also moved so as to tip the win s 32 at a substantial angle for instance te angle shown ,in full lines in Figure 6. The motor is now started and power is transmitted through vthe vertical shaft 14, which power may be electrical or steam and may be transmitted in any convenient manner (not shown). This power in turn causes the Ipropellers 46 to revolve, which revolution will serve to rotate the wings about the shaft 18 and as the wings are set at an angle, an enormous propeller is set in motion` which will result in a vertical rising of the machine. IAs the aeroplane reaches a desired height, the operator gradually straightens the wi to a horizontal position by moving -the lever 42l at which time they will act as wing surfaces and the Propellers which have been previously running will continue to run but in a dierent manner, as before they were revolving in o posits directions. They will new be cause to revolve in the same direction by reversing one of the motors with the result 4that one propeller will become a tractor propeller, while the other propeller `will become a pusher ropeller. A gyroscope is employed for t e purpose of holdlng the fuselage in a stationary position so that it will not revolve with the wings which would be the tendency where the gyroscope is omitted.

1t is to be understood that the form of my invention herewith shown and described is Qto be taken as a preferred example of the same, and that various changes in the shape, size and arrangement of parts ma be resorted to without departing from t espirit olf the invention or the scope of the subjoined c alm.

.Y Having thus described my invention, I

In a device of the character described, the combination with a fuselage, of a shaft pivoted to said fusela e, means for moving the lower extremity o said shaft in a plane parallel to the length of said fuselage, a tubular shaft mounted on said shaft, a series of shafts radially secured to said tubular shaft, wing surfaces mounted on said radial shafts and capable of partial rotation with respect thereto, means for simultaneously rotating said wing surfaces said means com- `prising a vertically moving collar, a ring surrounding said collar, links secured to said wings and said collar, links secured to said ring and extending downwardly therefrom, a second ring, a link secured to said second ring, means for moving said second mentioned ring, and a propeller mounted adjacent the edges of two of said wings and adapted to rotate said wings about said tubular shaft. In testimony whereof I aiiix my signature.

WILLIS VETTEL. 

